In Short:
Sinch, a leading communications platform, plans to invest more in India, targeting enterprise sectors and small businesses. CEO Laurinda Pang noted impressive growth since acquiring ACL Mobile, with India outpacing other regions. Sinch aims to expand through mergers and hiring, while also promoting Rich Communication Services (RCS) to enhance messaging capabilities. The company is optimistic about its growth trajectory in the Indian market.
Sinch, a prominent communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) vendor, is poised to increase its investments in India while diversifying its offerings to capture new enterprise verticals and small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company is also actively seeking relevant merger and acquisition (M&A) opportunities.
Long-Term Growth Ambitions
According to Laurinda Y Pang, CEO of Sinch, stated, “We need to articulate our long-term growth ambitions in the market over the next three to five years. We want to allocate capital and invest. There’s no reason why the business should slow down. I am excited about it accelerating and getting to a point where our India business is not just growing in double-digits but also doubling in a short time.”
Financial Performance
Listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Sinch is recognized as the second-largest CPaaS vendor globally. In its latest quarterly earnings report, the company’s net sales in the Asia Pacific region rose by 7%, amounting to 971 million Swedish kronor in Q2 2024, compared to 906 million Swedish kronor in the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Notably, India is highlighted as a significant contributor to this growth.
Market Position and Strategy
Sinch began operations in India in 2008 and made a significant move by acquiring ACL Mobile for Rs 535 crore in 2020. The company competes with domestic cloud communication platforms such as Tanla Platforms, Route Mobile, and Infobip.
Pang remarked, “Since acquiring the ACL business, the growth trajectory has been impressive. The India business is outpacing the rest of our global operations.”
Targeting SMBs
Sinch’s offerings cater to customers in sectors such as BFSI (Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance) and retail. Pang emphasized the company’s success in large enterprises while noting the opportunity presented by the 60 million small businesses in India as a new target market.
Inorganic Growth and Employment Plans
Pang clarified that while Sinch plans to continue organic growth, inorganic growth through acquisitions remains a key component of its strategy. She expressed confidence in India as a standalone business that is undergoing rapid growth, stating, “Exciting opportunities exist, and we will consider inorganic growth.”
Regarding hiring plans, Pang indicated that the company will align its recruitment strategy with business growth, describing the current growth rate as “robust.” However, she added, “I can’t say we are going to hire thousands of people in India. We are not ready for that level of mass hiring.”
Employee Distribution and Communication Trends
Sinch’s workforce in India spans major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Chennai, and Bengaluru. Although Pang declined to disclose the precise number of employees in India, the company operates with over 4,000 employees worldwide across more than 60 countries.
While SMS continues to drive significant messaging volume over CPaaS platforms, Sinch is optimistic about the adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS) on both Android and iOS. Pang noted the importance of RCS, stating, “The ubiquity around RCS is now a reality and we see this as an important trend.”
Sinch is actively engaging in educating enterprises about the benefits of RCS, as the company believes various use cases will emerge. Recently, Sinch entered into a partnership with Singtel to provide RCS solutions for businesses in Singapore.
